Becoming a Family
by lizziemarie0529
Summary: After Elwood and Buster have a fight, Buster runs away and ends up at a place where no one will be able to find him, The Plantation Club in Louisiana
1. Chapter 1

After Elwood and Buster have a disagreement, Buster runs away to the last place anyone would find him, Queen Mousette and the Plantation club in Louisiana. Takes place after BB 2000. Enjoy and read/review and please no flames.

" Buster for the last time, the answer is no, now will you please stop asking me."

" But that's not fair!"

" Kid life's not fair so get used to it."

Buster glared at his adopted father, while the rest of the band members sighed and quietly left the room.

" Looks like they are at it again."

Cab and Murphy looked at Mack and just nodded their heads.

" Come on lets wait for them at the restaurant, I'm sure they'll stop soon."

" You guys go, Ill wait for Jekyll and Hyde."

So everyone nodded and left Mack to referee the fight, which was slowly getting louder.

" We should have never taken that gig, if we knew this was going to happen."

So quietly Mack grabbed the nearest chair, and tried to make himself comfortable and patiently waited for them to stop fighting.

" But what about the show?"

Elwood took a deep breath and tried to calm his nerves, but the kid wouldn't stop pushing.

" I told you, you will not be on stage, you will be back stage."

" Why are you doing this?"

" Maybe the next time when I tell you to do something, you will do it instead of running off and not telling anyone where you are going and showing up way after curfew!"

Buster crossed his arms and sat on the bed, while giving Elwood a dirty look.

" I was only 20 minutes late!"

" You walked into the hotel room an hour late, you didn't tell me or anyone else where you were going, now you have to suffer the consequences of your actions!"

Realizing his temper was rising, Elwood again closed his eyes, counted to ten, the continued.

" Buster we have been fighting for almost 2 days and I just cant do it anymore, so I'm going outside and getting something to eat and when I come back, you are going to bed because we have to be on the road early tomorrow."

Then Elwood turned around and walked outside, leaving Buster alone in the room.

Taking a deep breath, Elwood noticed, Mack was sitting in the chair looking at him.

" What are you doing here?"

" Waiting for you and the kid."

Elwood grabbed another chair and sat down next to Mack.

" I'm starting to think this wasn't such a good idea after all adopting and bringing the kid with us."

Mack just nodded his head while his friend continued.

" I mean he's misbehaving, talking back…maybe tomorrow I should put him a the next bus to Chicago."

" Elwood, you and tired and aggravated, maybe after you get some food in your system and not only will you be able to think straight, but you will feel better."

" Maybe you're right."

So the 2 friends went down to the restaurant unaware that the child in question heard everything they talked about.

" You don't want me anymore, well then that's fine, Im outta hear."

After making sure he had everything he needed, Buster left the key on the dresser and while everyone else was eating, he took off.


	2. Chapter 2

Here is the long awaited chapter 2, I promise this chapter will be a lot longer. Enjoy and please read/review and no flames.

Elwood was sitting on the bed, trying to figure out what to do next, but he didn't know where to start. Buster has now been missing for 5 hours, and to Elwood, that was 5 hours too long. When he heard the hotel room door opened, he jumped up, hoping it was Buster, but Mack and Cab walked in instead.

" We searched the entire area, but we cant find him, Cropper and Dunn went to the bus station to see if maybe he's there."

Elwood nodded and sat back down on the bed.

" Its after midnight, where would he go?"

Matt, sat down next to his friend, and gave him a small smile.

" Buster is a tough kid, I'm sure he's around here somewhere and don't worry, we will all find him."

Smiling and nodding back, Elwood gave a long sigh and waited for the other band members, hoping that they might have had better luck then him.

Buster had no clue where he was going, he just knew he had to get out of the area fast.

" There is no way I am going back to that orphanage, if Jake could survive on the streets, then I could too."

But deep down, Buster knew he couldn't, he was getting tired and cold, from all the walking, so he stopped walking and just sat on the ground and started to cry.

" This is all my fault, why did I have to be so stupid, maybe I should just head back and apologize to Elwood, and everything will be ok, but he would defiantly send me back, since I did run away, so now I'm stuck here."

Buster continued to sit on the ground and thought back to their last gig, which started this whole stupid fight.

They were playing at a county fair in Kentucky, and after the show, instead of meeting back with the band, Buster wandered off and ran into some kids, who were doing stunts on motorcycles, and he thought it was really cool, so they let him try, well he was having so much fun, Buster lost track of the time, and when he did go back to the room, Elwood grounded him and took away his band privileges. So now because of all that Buster was now sitting on the ground freezing his butt off.

" Well if Elwood wasn't being so overprotective, this whole thing wouldn't have happened in the first place, so yeah its not my fault this is all Elwood's fault."

So after looking around and making sure it was somewhat safe, Buster took his jacket off, and laid down to sleep, hoping that when he woke up, he would have some type of clue on what to do next.

Back at the hotel, everyone was listening to Cropper and Dunn, tell them they had no luck finding him.

" So what do we do now?"

Cab got up and looked out the window.

" Buster hasn't been missing for 24 hours, so we cant file a report, and since its dark out, there is no way we could find him, so I suggest we wait it out until morning."

Elwood's head jerked up, when he heard that.

" We can't wait till morning, we have to find him now."

" Elwood, Cab is right, its too dark out, we wont be able to see anything, let alone him, its best we wait it out."

" But its cold out, he might be sick, or hurt, or lost!"

Everyone looked at each other then back at Elwood, all silently hoping Buster was ok. After a few minutes of silence, Elwood agreed to continue the search, in the morning, but only after threatening to continue looking as soon as the sun came up.

When the sun started to slowly come up, Buster woke up, and continued walking.

" I still have no clue on where to go from here, and I doubt they are even searching for me, but just in case they are, I have to find a place, where no one would expect to find me." After thinking for a few minutes, Buster thought of the perfect place, so after walking into a near by McDonalds to get changed and eat breakfast, Buster made his way to the bus station.

When they all woke up and had something to eat, The Blues Brothers band continued their search for their missing band member.

" Ok this is what we are going to do, I want everyone to check the same places, you checked last night, but also keep your eyes and ears opened too. If any of you find him, please keep him with you. We will meet back here in one hour, and if we don't have any luck, then Ill have Cab contact the nearest police department to let them know."

When they all parted, Elwood rubbed his face, with his hands and looked up at the sky.

" Jake, if by some chance you are looking down, do you think you could help us look for him, or at least send me a sign that lets me know where he is, I would greatly appreciate it."

Then he looked down and stared at Mack and Cab.

" You know, for the first time, since the adoption, I feel like a parent…a nervous, scared stiff parent…why couldn't I have felt like a parent earlier, why did it have to be now?"

Mack looked at his friend and shrugged.

" You have always been a parent, its just when something happens to your child, something inside of you snaps, and you vow to never feel that pain again."

" Yeah come on, lets look around the hotel again."

So the 3 friends walked around the grounds in hopes that something will come up at they didn't notice before.

As soon as Buster, reached the bus station, he walked up to the schedule, saw the destination he needed, then headed towards the window and looked at the teller.

" I would like a ticket for the next bus headed towards Louisiana."

The cashier looked at Buster, with a little bit of suspicion, but instead of questioning it, she sold him the ticket, and Buster sat outside and waited.

" it's the perfect spot, no one will ever think of finding me there." Then he just closed his eyes and patiently waited.

Meanwhile back at the hotel, the band was regrouping and planning out their next move, when Elwood, jumped from the chair, he was sitting at and looked towards the nearest town.

" Did anyone check the bus station?"

Matt and Mr. Fabulous nodded their head yes

" Yeah that was the first place we checked…why?"

" I just gotta feeling that's all. We have to check again please."

So everyone piled back into the car and drove to the station, however when they got there, Buster was already on the bus, which pulled away and was heading down the street towards the state boarder.


	3. Sick and Hurt

Sorry it took me so long to update, I'm just about done with school, so its been hectic, but here is the long awaited next chapter…enjoy and please read and review.

When the bus pulled into the station, Buster had no clue where he was going to start, he knew he had to find a way to Queen Mousettes, but he just didn't know how.

" I could take a taxi, but I don't know how much that would cost and hitchhiking is way to dangerous, so I guess walking it is then."

So after finding a map, Buster wrote the directions down on a piece of toilet paper, then walked out of the building.

" Ok, from what it looks like, its going to take me awhile to get there, and since its already after 11, I should get started, because there is no way I am going to walk around here at night."

After adjusting his book bag, Buster slowly made his way across the highway towards The Plantation club.

3 hours later, Buster stopped at the sighed of the road and collapsed.

" This is nuts…maybe I should just call Elwood, tell him where I am, suffer the consequences. I'm hot, tired, and I want to go home."

But after remembering why he ran off, in the first place, he gave a frustrated sigh.

" I bet they didn't even notice I'm gone, in fact I bet they don't even care…no one cares about me."

Trying to blink away the tears, that were forcing themselves to fall, Buster threw his book bag onto the ground and fell asleep.

Meanwhile back in Kentucky, Elwood was now going out of his mind with worry and concern. Buster was now missing for over 18 hours and they were running out of places to look. When the others went back out he did the only thing he could think of, he called Mother Superior.

" _Hello?"_

" _Mother this is Elwood, I don't know what to do?"_

" _Elwood…what is it?"_

" _I'm not cut out for this whole parent thing…Buster ran off, we don't know where he is, he's been missing since last night."_

" _Oh Elwood…did you call the police?"_

" _Cab said we should wait until he is missing for 24 hours, but what if he is hurt, what if he's scared somewhere!"_

" _Elwood, just by the way you are feeling right now, you will make a wonderful parent. Do what I did, when you and Jake ran off…pray."_

" _Thanks Mother."_

" _You are welcome. Please keep me updated."_

After hanging up, Elwood got down on his knees and prayed.

" Please keep him safe, until we are united again and I promise I will take better care of him."

After he was done, Elwood got up, from the floor, and rejoined the search for his son.

At first Buster thought he was dreaming of a water park, but when he woke up, it was starting to rain and he could here thunder in the distance.

" Great…this is fantastic. Could this day get any worse?"

Just then the sky opened and a small drizzle turned into a heavy down pour.

Wanting to cry even more now, Buster got himself up, off the ground and slowly made his way, down the road.

45 minutes later, Buster spotted a sign for the Plantation club across the road.

" Thank god according to this, its only 30 minutes away. Ill be out of the rain in no time!"

When Buster turned to make the right, he ended up slipping in the mood, but when he tried to get up, he slipped even more, which caused him to fall down a small steep hill.

By the time he reached the bottom, Buster had a big gash on his knee, a sprained ankle, his hand was all cut up, and he had a bunch of cuts on his head.

Two of Queen Mousettes guards heard the scream, so when they went to investigate, they found Buster, covered in blood and unconscious.

" Wasn't he at the club last summer with that blues band?"

" Oui, but what is he doing out here?"

So very gently the one guard, named Carl, picked up the boy and carried him off to the club.

Queen Mousette and Marco were sitting on the main porch, of the club enjoying the storm when the 2 guards walked up to them.

" I do love thunderstorms, I hope this lasts all night."

" So do I, this is good sleeping weather."

Smiling softly, Queen Mousette was about to pour them another glass of sweet tea, when Carl walked onto the porch.

" When we went to investigate a noise, we found this child at the bottom of the hill, he's badly hurt and I believe he is running a fever."

When the queen walked over to Carl, she pushed back Busters hair and gasped.

" Why…this is Buster Blues, from the Blues Brothers, but what is he doing here?"

After checking his forehead, she gasped again.

" He is burning up, put him in one of the spare rooms and I will be there shortly."

While she started gathering herbs and medicines, Marco ran up to check on the boy.

20 minutes later, after she healed the minor cuts and tended to the major injuries, she pulled Marco and Carl into the hallway.

" His fever is still very high and I don't like the cut on his head, so we must watch him throughout the night."

Looking back into the room, Queen Mousette sighed.

" I wish I knew what happened, a child his age shouldn't be down here alone."

After a few minutes of silence, Marco pulled out his cell phone.

" Your majesty, have Mighty Mack's number, should I call him?"

" Yes and tell them to hurry.

So while the queen went back to Buster, Marco closed the door and called Mack.

Mack was sitting in a hotel room, with the rest of the band, wondering what to do next. He knew they should call the police, but Elwood still didn't like cops, but Mack couldn't stand seeing his best friend like this.

He was about to suggest getting something to eat and calling it a night, because with this rain storm going on, there wasn't much they could do, but then his phone went off, which caused everyone to jump.

" _Hello?"_

" _Bonjour…is this Mack?"_

" _Yes it is…who is this?"_

" _Oh good, this is Marco from The Plantation Club."_

" _Oh ok…so can I help you with anything?"_

" _No, but I think I can help you…are you missing anyone?"_

" _As a matter of fact yes…why?"_

" _Young Buster is here, at the club, and you must hurry the young lad, is injured and very sick."_

" _Thank you for calling, we will be there as fast as we can."_

After hanging up the phone, Mack looked at Elwood.

" That was Marco, from Queen Mousettes…Buster's there at the club."

Elwood's head shot up at Mack's direction.

" What do you mean he's in Louisiana…how the hell did he get here…I'm gonna kill him."

" Elwood slow down there's more…apparently not only is he hurt, but he is sick as well."

A new worry came over him and he closed his eyes.

" Lets go."

So the band checked out of the hotel and started their way to their young band member.

Finally this is done, I hope you like it.


	4. Chapter 4

Elwood didn't know how long he was asleep, but by the time he opened his eyes, it was 2am and they just drove into Louisiana.

" Are we almost there?"

Mack glanced over at his friend and sighed.

" We should be there in an hour."

Elwood nodded and rubbed his eyes.

" I remember the first time we came here, Buster clung onto to me for dear life, because he was scared of all the alligators, that were walking around. That was the first time, I actually started to care about the kid."

" How do you feel now?"

" I now know what every parent goes through, when their child is sick, hurt, or missing, I just have to be experiencing all 3."

Taking a deep breath, Elwood turned his head, back towards the window.

" I don't know why he ran off, but I will fix this, I swear."

" I know you will, in fact we will all help you."

Elwood just nodded his head and continued to look out the window, as they made their way to the club.

Back at the club, Marco looked at his watch, then back at the window. He spoke to Mack 8 hours ago and they still weren't here yet.

" They're still not here?"

Marco turned around and saw Louis coming down the stairs.

" No not yet…how's the boy?"

Louis rubbed his face and took a deep breath.

" He still has a fever, but its still going down, her majesty is still worried though."

Marco was about to reply when he spotted two cars pulling up to the club.

" Thank god. Tell the queen they have arrived."

Then after grabbing 2 umbrellas, Marco ran outside to meet them.

" You are all a welcome sight, that's for sure."

Everyone jumped out of the cars and quickly ran inside and before Elwood could even ask, Louis led Elwood to Buster while Marco took the band to the sitting area to get dry.

" How's the kid?"

Marco sat down and looked at his friends.

" He still has a fever, but its not as high as it was. However he still isn't awake and that has the queen worried."

Everyone shared the same look of concern.

" I guess we will be staying here for awhile."

While Marco ran into the kitchen to make some coffee, the band all said a silent prayer.

When Elwood reached the room, he slowly opened the door and noticed Queen Mousette put another wet cloth on Buster's forehead.

" How is he?"

Queen Mousette looked up then walked over to Elwood and gave him a hug.

" His fever is finally going down, the swelling from his ankle is going down, and the cut on his head isn't infected. So all in all I think he will be ok."

Elwood gave a small smile and sighed in relief.

" Thank you for taking care of him."

Queen Mousette smiled then walked out of the room leaving him alone with Buster.

After the queen left, Elwood walked over to the bed, grabbed the wet cloth, and sat down.

" He's a cute kid motor head."

Elwood almost fell out of the chair when he heard that voice, so he got up and walked into the hallway to see if it was one of the guys, but when he didn't see anyone, he walked back into the room and after he shut the door, he came face to face with Jake.

" How yah doing Elwood?"

Elwood just stood there terrified, but also in awe.

" Jake…is that you?"

" The one and only."

" But how…your dead…aren't you?"

Jake chuckled.

" Yes I'm dead. I'm just here checking on the kid."

Elwood immediately started to panic when he heard that.

" Why…what do you want with him…what's wrong?"

Jake smiled and laughed. He wasn't used to this side of his brother.

" Will you relax, he's fine. You did ask me to look out for him…didn't you?"

Elwood began to relax and walked over to his brother.

" Yes I did, but I still don't understand how you are here?"

Jake picked up the cloth, Elwood dropped, and placed it on Buster's head.

" Louisiana is big into the afterlife, so its easier for spirits to connected with the living when they are here."

Elwood was about to respond, when Buster took a deep breath and started to relax.

" Oh good, his fever just broke. Elwood every new parent makes mistakes the first time around and Buster knows how much you care about him."

Elwood sat on the edge of the bed and took Busters hand.

" I just feel like I'm screwing up all the time. I want him to have the life we didn't have."

Watching his brother cling desperately to the boy, Jake took a deep breath.

" Elwood…he ran off because he overheard you and Mack say something about dumping him back in Chicago."

Squeezing his hand softly, Elwood reached over and wiped the sweat of the kids forehead.

" I had a feeling that was it. What do I do Jake?"

Getting up, Jake joined Elwood on the bed.

" You are already doing it."

Then after putting his hand on Elwood's shoulder and giving it a gentle squeeze Jake left.

Elwood took a deep breath and was about to get up, when he heard a soft whisper coming from the front of the bed.

" Stay…please."

Elwood looked up, and saw Buster looking at him.

" Hey kid, when did you wake up?"

" A few minutes ago, I didn't want to interrupt you and Uncle Jake, I know how much you miss him."

Elwood walked over to the table, poured Buster a glass of water, and handed it to him.

" Buster, I know why you ran off and you have to believe me, they were just words, I was never going to send you back. We are a family and nothing is going to come between that."

With tears in his eyes, Buster slowly got up and hugged Elwood as tight as he could.

" I love you."

" I love you too kid."

After breaking apart, Buster laid back down and Elwood gave him a half stern half happy look.

" Another thing, the next time you get the urge to run away, do me a favor and talk to someone please, and keep it in the same state and close by."

Laughing, Buster took out his hand and they shook on it.

" Now, I'm going downstairs and let everyone know your awake, so why don't you get some rest and ill check on you in a few minutes."

Turning the light off, Elwood watched his son fall asleep then went to tell his friends the good news.


	5. 1973

The next morning, Buster's fever dropped to the point where he could get out of bed, so with the careful eye of Elwood and Queen Mousette, Buster was now downstairs with the rest of the band, explaining how he ended up here.

" So I took a bus from Kentucky, then walked, remember falling, and now I am here."

Mr. Fabulous, just laughed when the kid finished.

" You are certainly a Blues, that's for sure."

Buster smiled when he heard that.

" Why…what did Elwood and Jake do?"

The entire band was about to start stories, but Elwood interrupted them.

" Lets leave the stories for another time."

Buster and Mack were about to protest, when they spotted Marco setting up instruments.

" Hey Marco, what are you doing?"

Marco looked up and smiled.

" My band and I are getting ready to rehearse and I figure since the lad is feeling better we could play for all of you."

After everyone gathered around the room, Marco walked over to the couch and looked over at Buster.

" My lead singer couldn't make it, so we were wondering if you would lead us?"

Buster's eyes lit up and he quickly looked towards Elwood and smiled.

" Can I please?"

Elwood nodded his head and he grabbed his crutches and slowly made his way to the chair.

" Wait I don't know the song."

" Its ok, we have extra copies."

" Simone you're getting older

Your journey's been etched on your skin

Simone wish I had known that

What seemed so strong

Has been and gone.

I would call you up every Saturday night

And we both stayed out till the morning light

And we sang ' Here we go Again'

And though time goes by

I will always be

In a club with you

In 1973

Singing ' Here we go Again.'

Simone wish I was sober

So I could see clearly now

The rain has gone

Simone I guess it's over

My memory plays out tune

The same old song

I would call you up every Saturday night

And we both stayed out till morning light

And we sang 'Here we go Again'

And though time goes by

I will always be

In a club with you

In 1973

Singing 'Here we go Again.'

When the band was done, Buster looked over at Elwood, who was beaming with pride and awe at his son.

I hope everyone likes this chapter. And unfortunately I do not own James Blunt or his song 1973. Enjoy


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